The principle of least effort is a broad

theory A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be ...

that covers diverse fields from

evolutionary biology Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes ( natural selection, common descent, speciation) that produced the diversity of life on Earth. It is also defined as the study of the history of life ...

to webpage design. It postulates that animals, people, and even well-designed machines will naturally choose the

path of least resistance The path of least resistance is the physical or metaphorical pathway that provides the least resistance to forward motion by a given object or entity, among a set of alternative paths. The concept is often used to describe why an object or entit ...

or "effort". It is closely related to many other similar principles: see

Principle of least action The stationary-action principle – also known as the principle of least action – is a variational principle that, when applied to the '' action'' of a mechanical system, yields the equations of motion for that system. The principle states tha ...

or other articles listed below. This is perhaps best known or at least documented among researchers in the field of library and information science. Their principle states that an information-seeking client will tend to use the most convenient search method in the least exacting mode available. Information-seeking behavior stops as soon as minimally acceptable results are found. This theory holds true regardless of the user's proficiency as a searcher, or their level of subject expertise. Also, this theory takes into account the user’s previous information-seeking experience. The user will use the tools that are most familiar and easy to use that find results. The principle of least effort is known as a “deterministic description of human behavior”. The principle of least effort applies not only in the library context, but also to any information-seeking activity. For example, one might consult a generalist co-worker down the hall rather than a specialist in another building, so long as the generalist's answers were within the threshold of acceptability. The principle of least effort is analogous to the

History

The principle was first articulated by the Italian philosopher Guillaume Ferrero in an article in the ''

Revue philosophique de la France et de l'étranger The ''Revue philosophique de la France et de l'étranger'' is an academic journal founded by Théodule-Armand Ribot in 1876. It was continued by Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, Emile Bréhier, Paul Masson-Oursel, and Pierre-Maxime Schuhl. Originally publis ...

'', 1 January 1894. About 50 years later this principle was studied by

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

George Kingsley Zipf who wrote ''Human Behaviour and the Principle of Least Effort: An Introduction to Human Ecology'', first published in 1949. He theorised that the distribution of word use was due to tendency to communicate efficiently with least effort and this theory is known as Zipf's Law. Within the context of information seeking, the principle of least effort was studied by Herbert Poole who wrote ''Theories of the Middle Range'' in 1985.

Librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time ...

Thomas Mann lists the principle of least effort as one of several principles guiding

information seeking Information seeking is the process or activity of attempting to obtain information in both human and technological contexts. Information seeking is related to, but different from, information retrieval (IR). Compared to information retrieval T ...

behavior in his 1987 book, ''A Guide to Library Research Methods''. Likewise, one of the most common measures of information seeking behavior, library circulation statistics, also follows the 80-20 rule. This suggests that information seeking behavior is a manifestation not of a

normal distribution In statistics, a normal distribution or Gaussian distribution is a type of continuous probability distribution for a real-valued random variable. The general form of its probability density function is : f(x) = \frac e^ The parameter \mu ...

curve, but a power law curve.

Applications

The principle of least effort is especially important when considering design for libraries and research in the context of the modern library. Libraries must take into consideration the user's desire to find information quickly and easily. The principle must be considered when designing individual Online Public Access Catalogs (OPACs) as well as other library tools. The principle is a guiding force for the push to provide access to

electronic media Electronic media are media that use electronics or electromechanical means for the audience to access the content. This is in contrast to static media (mainly print media), which today are most often created digitally, but do not require el ...

in libraries. The principle of least effort was further explored in a study of library behavior of graduate students by Zao Liu and Zheng Ye (Lan) Lang published in 2004. The study sampled

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

distance learning graduate students to test what library resources they used, and why they used those particular resources. In this study the Internet was used the most, while libraries were the next most used resource for conducting class research. The study found that most students used these resources due to their quickness and ability to access from home. The study found that the principle of least effort was the primary behavior model of most

distance learning Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

students.Zao Liu and Zheng Ye (Lan) Lang. “Factors Influencing Distance-Education Graduate Students’ Use of Information: A User Study”, ''Journal of Academic Librarianship'', 30(1), 2004. This means that modern libraries, especially academic libraries, need to analyze their electronic databases in order to successfully cater to the needs of the changing realities of information science. Professional writers employ the principle of least effort during

audience analysis Audience analysis is a task that is often performed by technical writers in a project's early stages. It consists of assessing the audience to make sure the information provided to them is at the appropriate level. The audience is often referred t ...

. The writer analyzes the reader's environment, previous knowledge, and other similar information which the reader may already know. In

technical writing Technical writing is writing or drafting technical communication used in technical and occupational fields, such as computer hardware and software, architecture, engineering, chemistry, aeronautics, robotics, finance, medical, consumer electronics, ...

, recursive organization, where parts resemble the organization of the whole, helps readers find their way. Consistency of navigational features is a common concern in software design.

References

Educational psychology

History

Applications

See also

References